The most important thing you can do before hitting the road: ensure your caravan, tow vehicle and its towbar aren’t overloaded.
Caravans that have been loaded beyond their Aggregate Trailer Mass remain an issue – you only need to glance at some of the popular caravanning Facebook groups to know that. Vehicles loaded beyond their Gross Vehicle Mass and Towball Mass are an issue, too, to say nothing about Gross Combined Mass.
The reality is, police do enforce vehicle and caravan weight, now more than ever. And should a serious accident occur as a result of a non-compliant setup – which is a genuine possibility – your life will be irrevocably changed.
Perhaps the thought of using a public weighbridge is intimidating, or you just don’t know how to use one and understand the results. Fear not. You see, Australia’s various caravan and camping associations run RV and caravan weight checks in which members of the public are invited to have their rig independently weighed and assessed for safety.
Caravanning Queensland runs them as does Caravan Industry Victoria. We visited one such session, held outside of Warragul RV Centre, Vic, in late April 2023. The experience was enlightening, to say the least.
CARAVAN WEIGHT CHECK PROGRAM
In April, Caravan Industry Victoria ran five separate sessions, in conjunction with WIM Technologies. The aim: to improve caravanning safety by educating as many vanners as possible on the actual loaded caravan weight and the weight of their tow vehicles. WIM Technology employs a portable scale that uses ‘weigh in motion’ technology that measures the weight on each individual axle.
Ball weight is measured separately using a digital ball weight scale. After the numbers are crunched, a representative of WIM Technology shares the results with the vanner.
While on site, we met Warragul local Bernie Wheeler. He had brought his tandem-axle caravan and 200 Series Land Cruiser for a weigh-in. The van, which had a Tare of 2579kg, and vehicle were loaded as they would be for a trip. In fact, he was about to head off to the Northern Territory.
We asked Bernie what he thought his loaded caravan weight would be. He reckoned it would weigh-in about 3100kg to 3200kg. In fact, he was more concerned about his Land Cruiser being overloaded.
When it was his turn on the scale, Bernie towed his van over the WIM Technology ‘weighbridge’, the scale taking a reading for each axle as it passed over it, sending the data immediately to a nearby computer. Then, it was time to unhitch and lower the van’s ball coupling onto the digital scale.
THE RESULTS
First, the ball weight. The scale revealed that Bernie’s van, fully loaded for a trip, had a ball weight of 322.5kg, 27.5kg below the towball maximum of his Cruiser. Tick.
However, things were a little more interesting when it came to his van. His caravan had an ATM 3500kg; however, the scale revealed his loaded weight was actually 3542kg. For those playing at home, that’s 42kg over the maximum permissible weight for his caravan and his tow vehicle’s towing capacity.
But, for Bernie, there was an immediate solution. You see, the scale revealed his Cruiser weighed 3240kg when hitched up, including the ball weight. That’s 110kg below its 3350kg GVM. Therefore, the quick fix was to shift at least 42kg worth of gear from the van to the vehicle. However, that picture will probably have to change when passengers climb aboard.
There was, however, some good news on the GCM front. His combined vehicles (including the ball weight) recorded a total weight of 6460kg, 390kg below the Cruiser’s 6850kg GCM.
Overall, Bernie wasn’t unhappy with the results. Yes, he would have to strip out at least 42kg worth of weight from the van, but he felt he could manage that.
SUMMING UP
Bernie was an experienced caravanner who took weight compliance seriously, as we all should. However, the lesson here is that, despite how much you think you know, and regardless of what your gut tells you about the weight of your rig, it pays to get it checked.
These public weigh-ins held by the various state-based caravan and camping associations are a free service, and no fines are issued should the van or vehicle be overweight. They are strictly about educating the caravanning public. As educated and experienced as Bernie clearly already was, he knew the value of an independent weigh-in, and he, his passengers and his rig will be safer for it.
- Keep your eye on the websites of the various state-based caravan associations for information about the next round of caravan weight checks.
